Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: In the later chapters, the main characters are being pursued by Tripods, mind controlling alien machines. My question is, if the Tripods can turn humans into 1600's puppets, complete with foxhunts, why don't they make some of said mind-controlled humans help with the pursuit?

dizzyd

Chosen answer: There's no way to answer that because there could be any number of reasons they chose not to. For whatever reason, they did not do that. Any answer would be speculation.

raywest

Question: Why does Gothel say "I'm not getting any younger down here" when Rapunzel is coming to pull her up? Does this imply that Rapunzel knows why Gothel keeps her in the tower, or is she pretending to be sarcastic?

Lily Harrison

Chosen answer: "I'm not getting any younger" is usually a sarcastic way of telling someone to hurry up.

Sierra1

Answer: Gothel also means it literally because Rapunzel's hair keeps her young, but of course Rapunzel doesn't know this.

Question: Even though it claims to be the sequel to the first SpongeBob movie, there's no Krusty Krab 2 and Plankton is somehow out of prison and continues trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. Is this movie one of those "prequel" episodes made after the first movie came out?

Answer: The first movie is actually set after the series finale of the show. This is because Stephen Hillenburg wanted the show to end at the Season 3 finale and for the first movie to conclude the series, but Nickelodeon disapproved, since the show was making them heaps of money. So the second movie is probably in line with the episodes after Season 3 and before the series finale. So no, it is probably not a prequel. If we look at it from a logical point of view, Plankton could have been released or escaped, and the Krusty Krab 2 could've closed. We don't know how far apart the episodes and movies are set in terms of time. The series has lots of inconsistencies anyway.

MikeH

Question: How could first-year students buy wands this year if Ollivander closed his shop?

Answer: While Ollivander is regarded as the most skilled and revered wand maker, other wand makers did exist. The students obviously would have gone to a different shop that year.

Question: At the end when the ranger is sitting in his car and the alarm is going off, is he still alive?

GwenFallen

Chosen answer: Yes he's alive. Nothing happened to him at all. He had turned on the siren when he saw someone in the road, which was suspicious. After he helps Ivy, he reports back to his supervisor that everything was okay, which it was. He realized that Ivy was from inside the reserve, but he says nothing about it.

raywest

Question: When Lawrence follows Sir John into the crypt, why was he carrying a rifle?

Answer: He must have felt he needed it for protection.

raywest

But why exactly? He didn't need it if he was simply going to follow his dad into the crypt.

Chosen answer: The song is "Headstrong" by Earshot. It's track 11 on the soundtrack album.

Sierra1

Question: What happened to the old man when he drank the soda that had the Hulk's blood in it?

Answer: Banner's blood has gamma radiation poisoning. To anybody but Banner, the amount is lethal, but due to his biology it does not kill him. But there is enough there that even that small bit of blood that wound up in Stan Lee's bottle was enough to make him very sick with gamma radiation poisoning, so he was taken to the hospital for treatment. His condition was reported at the hospital, which is why General Ross and his crew were alerted to it and were able to find Banner. But Stan Lee was taken to the hospital. What happened to him after that is not revealed in the movie.

Quantom X

Question: At the beginning of the movie, Lincoln 6 Echo is missing his left shoe. Is there any importance in that?

Answer: As far as I could tell, it seems to indicate his growing mental awareness of himself and his environment. He begins noticing more things around him and is questioning when things don't seem right or are out-of-place. The other clones don't exhibit that type of cognitive functioning as much as he does.

raywest

Chosen answer: He had moved away - he says in the third movie. We are never told as to where it was he moved to though.

Question: How does he do the sword trick?

Answer: The trick is done with electromagnets under the stage holding the sword upright and stuck to the floor (switched off when Leopold takes the sword). Audiences at the time would have been unfamiliar with such a technique.

Sierra1

Slapstick - S3-E9

Question: What does ISD stand for in Baltimore police? It is mentioned by major Colvin to Carv after police officers correctly guess that somebody (Carv) has moved the dead body (Internal affairs is called IID during the show). It is mentioned again in Season 4 episode 8, when Herc worries about how to get back an expensive camera that Carv helped borrow to that ISD department.

Answer: ISD was the Inspectional Services Division, a controversial intelligence arm of the Baltimore PD which operated from 1966 to 1976 and reported directly to the commissioner, Donald Pomerleau.

Sierra1

Show generally

Question: How can Lizzie's father have died in the fire when in an earlier season, Red killed him in the hospital when Lizzie was already an adult?

Answer: The man Red killed, Sam Scott, was Lizzie's adoptive father, not her biological one. However, at that time Lizzie (and thus the audience), was led to believe her real father abandoned her and her mother, so expect more secrets to be revealed how her real father actually died (or if he's even actually dead).

Bishop73

Question: At the start of the film, Danny is given the paper and told he has to hand it in the next morning. At the end, Danny is at school ready to hand it in. Does that mean that aside from the black-and-white flashback scenes, the movie took place over 24 hours? It's hard to believe so much happened in such a short amount of time.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Yes, apart from the flashbacks the whole movie is set over 24 hours.

The_Iceman

Answer: My internet searching yielded the most common answer of 76 killings by Keanu Reeves' eponymous character, in addition to 8 killings by others, and the death of one dog. One writer suggested John Wick killed 78, but that was an outlier.

Michael Albert

Question: How is the woman at the beginning of the movie Meg Giry, as is stated in several answers here? They call her Madame Giry, if it were Meg they would call her Mademoiselle Giry, unless she was married, in which case she would be Madame with whatever surname she received upon marriage. So wouldn't it need to be Meg's mother, Madame Giry?

Sarahjonesyy

Chosen answer: The honorific "Mademoiselle" is not an indication only of marital status, but it has a connotation of youth (and, ostensibly, virginity). Beyond a certain age, it would be considered inappropriate and possibly insulting or mocking to continue to use the term "Mademoiselle." "Madame" is generally adopted by women of a certain age, regardless of their marital status. It is not unlike "Señora" and "señorita" in Spanish. An interesting note - there is a currently a movement in France to remove "Mademoiselle" from French common usage, as it is considered by some sexist to classify women by age and/or marital status, when men in France are uniformly referred to only as "Monsieur."

Michael Albert

Answer: According to the original show, the Madame Giry at the beginning is the same Madame Giry who is Meg's mother. It is explained that her years as a dancer kept her in good health, so she aged better than Raoul did, who was in extremely poor health since Christine's death.

Question: When Quentin is inside the Spike Room heading to the others, the lever on the other side of the room is being rotated. Was someone there doing it? If so, is it revealed who or what it was?

Answer: As Kazan crosses the room he catches the lever with his trouser leg and half turns it as he carries on walking. It then continues by it self to complete a full turn.

Question: I've been reading fan-fictions of The Phantom of The Opera, and most fan-fictions - when in the phantom's (Erik's) POV (Point Of View) - say the word 'fop' describing Raoul, I'm wondering why?

PorkieBuddie

Chosen answer: A "fop" is defined as a man who is concerned with his clothes and appearance in an affected and excessive way; a dandy who often lives beyond his means. There is also a connotation of femininity or homosexual tendency, or at least a lack of sexual virility that (sadly) is considered one of the worst slurs available to a rival for the affections of a woman. And let's face it - Raoul, much like many of the men of his time and of a certain status, is required by societal norms to be well dressed, well groomed, well presented, well educated and, apparently, a tenor. Raoul certainly fits the bill. Erik, though certainly a man of breeding and finesse, is denied a place in polite society, whether ultimately he would want it or not if not driven to the dark recesses of homicidal madness by (also sadly) only the presence of disfiguring scars. The term "fop" seems the descriptor that not only rings with a kernel of truth, but also best sums up Erik's anger, disdain and, perhaps, jealousy.

Michael Albert

Question: At the Vermont lodge Judy is dancing with the same male dancer that Betty dances with at the same time in New York City at a nightclub. How can that happen?

Answer: The actors appear similar but they are different people. John Brascia danced with Vera Ellen in Vermont. George Chakiris danced with Rosemary Clooney in New York.

Answer: George Chakiris is in the background as a dancer in Vermont, but then mysteriously shows up in New York.

Question: In the beginning of the film, the audience sees the Moulin Rogue in its original role as a bordello/nightclub. It's hugely successful, too - it's full of patrons literally throwing money at the dancers. Why does Zidler want to stop all of this in favour of making it a theatre? And if he's dead set on this, why not do it using the revenue he's already got, instead of entering into a deal with a Duke who is jealous and possessive beyond belief (with a personal assassin, no less) and giving him the property's deeds?

Answer: There is actually a deleted scene from the movie that explains this part. Zidler has run the Moulin Rouge into heavy debt because of his obsession with electric lighting, and the club will fold if he can't come up with the money to cover that debt. That is why he's so desperate to have Satine come through and secure the Duke's patronage. They're all sunk without that investment.

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